Three-Card Tarot Reading: The High Priestess, Seven of Pentacles, and Three of Swords
Three-Card Tarot Reading: The High Priestess, Seven of Pentacles, and Three of Swords
Intuitive wisdom, patient waiting, and heartbreak—this three-card tarot spread weaves together deep knowing, the contemplation of effort, and painful truth. Today’s daily tarot reading speaks to trusting inner guidance, evaluating what you’ve built, and facing difficult emotional realities. Let’s explore what unfolds.
The Cards Drawn
- Past: The High Priestess
- Present: Seven of Pentacles
- Future: Three of Swords
Past – The High Priestess
The High Priestess in the past position indicates that you’ve been guided by intuition, mystery, and inner knowing. This Major Arcana card represents the keeper of secrets, the guardian of the subconscious, and the wisdom that comes from silence and reflection. In the past, you may have trusted your gut feelings, spent time in introspection, or accessed deeper spiritual truths. The High Priestess suggests you were connected to something beyond the rational mind—perhaps through meditation, dreams, or simply a strong sense of inner guidance that influenced your path.
Present – Seven of Pentacles
The Seven of Pentacles shows a figure pausing to assess their garden, contemplating the fruits of their labor. In the present position, this card speaks to a moment of evaluation and patience. You’ve invested time, energy, and resources into something—a relationship, career, creative project, or personal development—and now you’re standing back to assess whether it’s growing as you’d hoped. This card brings questions: Is this effort worth continuing? Am I seeing the results I want? Should I stay the course or change direction? The Seven of Pentacles is about strategic pause and honest assessment.
Future – Three of Swords
The Three of Swords is one of the most direct cards in tarot, depicting three swords piercing a heart. It speaks to heartbreak, painful truth, and emotional difficulty. As a future card, the Three of Swords warns of coming sorrow or the revelation of something painful. This might be disappointment in what you’ve been cultivating, a relationship ending, or simply facing a truth you’ve been avoiding. However, the Three of Swords also brings clarity—sometimes we need heartbreak to see what wasn’t working and to free ourselves for genuine healing.
The Reading as a Whole
This Past–Present–Future tarot spread tells a sobering story. The High Priestess shows you trusted your intuition and inner wisdom. The Seven of Pentacles indicates you’re now in a period of evaluation, questioning whether your investments have been worthwhile. The Three of Swords suggests that this assessment will lead to painful realizations or heartbreak.
Major Arcana Presence: One Major Arcana card (The High Priestess) appears in the past position, indicating a formative life lesson about trusting intuition and inner wisdom. This deep knowing has shaped your journey to this point.
Fool’s Journey Context: The High Priestess (II) is an early card in the Major Arcana, representing the first encounter with mystery and intuition. This suggests the wisdom you accessed in the past was foundational, but perhaps incomplete.
Numerological Theme: The presence of two cards with contemplative energy (High Priestess and Seven of Pentacles) suggests themes of reflection, patience, and looking beneath the surface. However, the Three of Swords breaks this stillness with sharp clarity.
Suit Pattern: Two Minor Arcana cards from different suits (Pentacles and Swords) alongside one Major suggests both practical concerns and mental/emotional ones are at play.
The narrative is challenging but necessary: your intuition guided you to invest in something, you’re now evaluating that investment with honest eyes, and the truth you discover may be painful. Trust that the High Priestess wisdom that brought you here will also help you navigate the heartbreak ahead. Sometimes the most loving thing intuition can do is show us what must end.
Reflection Prompt
What truth has your intuition been whispering that you’ve been afraid to hear?
Attribution
Photo by T A T I A N A on Unsplash